MVP sees MGreen acquisition of SPNEC completed before yearend

MANILA, Philippines — MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen), the renewable energy development arm of Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen), is looking forward to the development of one of the largest solar projects in the world which is expected to cost P200 billion, with the company expecting to complete the acquisition of a controlling stake in SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) before the year ends.

“Our aim is to close the acquisition – we’re hoping that it would be done by the end of this year because they should be able to energize some time in the first quarter of 2026 the first 600 megawatts (MW),” Meralco chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

“Something should happen very quickly and there’s not only the plants, but also the batteries and also the transmission. We have to connect it to the grid,” he said.

MGreen earlier announced that it will invest P15.9 billion in SPNEC to subscribe to 15.7 billion common shares and 19.4 billion redeemable preferred voting shares of the solar developer that is majority-owned by Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (SPH).

MGreen’s common and preferred voting shares will make it the controlling shareholder of SPNEC with a total voting interest of 50.5 percent upon closing of the transaction.

MGreen has agreed with SPH to use SPNEC as the primary vehicle to develop 3,500-MW of solar panels and 4,000 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems in Luzon.

The project is seen as being one of the largest solar projects not just in Asia, but in the world.

“There is a battery element as part of the total project itself. So with the batteries, our best estimate is around P200 billion (investment cost). That’s for the PV’s, the batteries, and the land,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said SPNEC has made significant progress on the land side, with more than 50 percent or a total of about 3,500 hectares of land already acquired for the solar project.

“So it’s exciting. It’s a big project. It has attracted a lot of interest from foreign investors because it’s big. It’s transformative actually for the Philippines,” Pangilinan said.

SPNEC CEO Leandro Leviste earlier said the company looks forward to bring together Meralco’s capabilities and its solar developments for the benefit of all stakeholders.

MGen, through MGreen, has initially set its sights on reaching 1,500 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The company has committed to investing at least P18 billion to put up over two gigawatts of gross renewable energy capacity from solar and wind which the company will build through 2030 along with its various partners.